Professor Catherine Odora Hoppers journey in South Africa started with advising the Portfolio Committee on Science and Technology of the Parliament of South Africa in 1997; to working intensely and advising the Committee of Heads of Science Councils (CHSC) for two years which led to the first concept paper drafted by her, outlining the imperatives in South Africa taking on IKS. The paper was endorsed by the Committee of Heads of Science Councils and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee in 1999. The leadership of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) recognised her contributions and elected her as a member of the academy as early as 2002. Hoppers proceeded to work with the Minister of Science and Technology firstly as part of the first Bi-National Commission of Science and Technology between India and then later China to map out how the different knowledge traditions were incorporated in the national system resulting in her being appointed by the (then) Minister Dr Ngubane to head a Task Team to draft the National Policy and Redraft the Legislation on Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS). The national Policy was passed by the Parliament in 2004, the legislation is before Parliament as we speak. Hoppers continued to tackle mind sets at the highest levels as she was appointed expert for the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the World Economic Forum, UNESCO's various and various international bodies like the International Bar Association (the global voice of the legal profession) that were still beginning to grapple with IKS in the late 1990 and early 2000s.
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